Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Nick
As far as Nick was concerned, one of the biggest upsides of being open about their new relationship was Lloyd telling him to just let him know if he and Avery wanted an occasional Thursday night off together.
A weekend night off together was probably too much to ask—though Luke had hinted they might work something out by having a guest chef or something—but a Thursday every few weeks was pretty great.
It meant when she asked him if he’d be interested in going to Stronghold with her and her friends, he could say yes.
He had to admit, he was curious about Stronghold. While he’d eventually like to see one of the shows at Marquis, he felt pretty comfortable inside the building itself, on both floors. At least in the main room of Marquis. Thanks to the classes, he was spending plenty of time there.
Stronghold, on the other hand, was a mystery and one he was wildly curious about. What would it be like? Would it be full of people having sex? Whipping each other? Or more like a regular nightclub? And which would he prefer since all of that made him uncomfortable in different ways?
Odd that he was the most comfortable with the idea of a club full of people whipping each other, but it was true.
That was something the Dom class had really helped with and not just him.
The past few weeks, the new Doms had become a lot more confident in their newfound skills.
Well, most of them. Connor still struggled but was better, as long as one of the instructors was watching him.
Nick had a feeling the big guy liked having the ‘safety net’ of an instructor’s presence in case his own strength worked against him.
Nick wondered if he’d see any of the other Doms from his class at the club.
Avery said they were going with Iris, Rae, Domi, Domi’s boyfriend, Mitch, and his friends.
He was a little nervous about hanging out with Doms, who knew what they were doing but figured it would be good for him.
He could watch how they acted and take his direction from them.
Hopefully, he didn’t embarrass himself, although Avery had assured him she was perfectly happy visiting and not playing.
“Are you ready?” Avery came out of the bathroom, taking his breath away at the same time all the blood rushed to his groin.
Getting ready had been no problem. He’d put on a pair of leather pants and a black shirt that hugged his muscles before sitting down on the couch to wait for her.
She’d been locked in the bathroom for the past hour, doing who knows what, but damn if he could argue with the results.
The soft waves of her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing heavier makeup than normal, the black liner accentuating her eyes, so they appeared even bigger, but what really made him stare was her dress.
The shiny black material hugged her body, outlining every inch of her curves clearly enough, he was certain she didn’t have a stitch of underwear underneath, making the way her boobs were lifted even more gravity-defying.
“Holy shit. No, I’m not ready. I think we should stay here.
” His pants were uncomfortably tight in a certain area.
When he went to embrace her, she giggled and came willingly into his arms, but she looked up at him with such pleading eyes, he knew he was going to give in, even before she opened her mouth.
“Please, Sir? I really want to go to Stronghold.” She wriggled. “I promise you’ll enjoy it.”
“I think I’d enjoy staying home even more,” he grumbled but gave her a chaste kiss, then helped her put on a long jacket that covered her down to her knees. It would help keep her warm in the chilly night air, as well as keep her decent until they got to the club.
Her happiness as she bounced to the car made him feel a lot better about the decision to go to Stronghold instead of staying home. Seeing her happy made him happy.
When they pulled into the club’s parking lot, he stared. It was nothing like he’d expected. He’d known it wouldn’t be like Marquis but wasn’t sure it could be more different.
From the outside, Stronghold looked like a warehouse. Only the number of cars in the parking lot made it seem like it might be something else. The windows were tinted, so it didn’t look as though any lights were on inside.
Hand gripping Avery’s, he led her inside, thrown off enough to be unsure of what he’d find in there.
The lobby reminded him a bit of the one at Marquis, though not as lushly decorated.
It kept the industrial warehouse feeling.
Behind the desk was a bubbly blonde who checked them in before they went through the door into the main part of the club, which was guarded by a massive bouncer.
The guy was as big as Connor, though with a shaved head and dark skin.
With his arms crossed over his chest, he was intimidating as hell.
“Hey, Master Jared,” Avery said cheerfully, giving the big man a little wave as she passed. He smiled at her, his gaze sweeping over Nick before they went through the door.
“How many people do you know here?” Nick asked as they walked into the main room.
“Not that many,” Avery admitted. “Rae and Dom talk a lot about the people here, so it feels as if I know them, even though I’ve never actually met them. I met Master Jared because he was visiting Olivia a few weeks ago when I had to go to her office for some paperwork.”
Avery was a friendly person, so she remembered people.
Nick scanned the room and had to admit it was more like a dance club than he’d expected.
There was a dance floor with a stage, though no one was currently performing.
The music had a throbbing beat but wasn’t so loud that it made conversation impossible, which he appreciated.
The area just to his and Avery’s left was filled with people mingling, sitting in the low chairs or kneeling on the thick carpet.
The kneeling made it different from a club.
On their right was a beautiful wood bar with erotic art hanging behind it and numerous bar tables scattered in front of it.
Other than all the leather, it looked like it could be any dance club.
He blinked as a woman walked by, leading a man who was crawling on a leash and wearing nothing but a thong and a hood that covered his entire head.
Okay, maybe not any dance club.
“Oooh, there they are!” Avery tugged on his hand, pulling him toward the bar.
Avery
Nerves hummed through her veins as introductions were made.
Nick wasn’t the most social person, and she knew this wasn’t his kind of scene.
Pretty sure he hadn’t been kidding when he said he’d be perfectly happy staying in tonight, she really appreciated he’d come out.
Although it made her feel like she had to make sure he was having fun.
Thankfully, Mitch, Zach, and Kincaid were warm and friendly and seemed more than happy to add another Dom to their group.
She was comfortable around Mitch since he was Domi’s boyfriend, but she hadn’t spent much time with Zach and Kincaid.
They were both tall, dark-haired, and handsome and were in a relationship.
She knew Kincaid was a detective, but she didn’t know what Zach did.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to find something for them to bond over.
All of them had eaten at Marquis at one point or another, and them raving about the food not only gave them something to talk about but made Nick feel good.
Starting out with a lot of compliments about his skills was a pretty great introduction.
“Aw, look at them making friends,” Rae whispered in Avery’s ear. “Did this feel like setting up a play date?”
Avery snickered. It had a little, and she imagined some of her anxiety was about whether everyone would get along.
“Shh,” she whispered back. “Don’t you dare let them hear you call it that.”
As if sensing they were getting into mischief, Kincaid glanced over at them and raised one eyebrow. Avery and Rae smiled back with their most innocent expressions, which probably didn’t fool him one bit.
The guys were having their own conversation, which had moved onto different kink, including Daddy Doms.
“Brian’s here tonight. When he’s done with his scene, he can explain better than any of us,” Zach said.
Beside Avery, Rae stiffened, but when she glanced at her friend, Rae had already pasted a smile on her face.
It was very different from her innocent one, her ‘I’m perfectly happy and totally don’t care Daddy Brian is scening with someone else’ smile.
This was the first time Avery had actually seen it, but she’d heard Domi’s name for it and knew that’s what she was seeing.
“Speaking of scening,” Zach said as he got to his feet.
“Amy’s here. I’m going to see if she wants a scene.
” He turned to Kincaid, who was sitting on the barstool next to him.
Since Kincaid was normally a little taller than Zach, their current positions put them at the perfect height to kiss.
“I’ll be back.” Kincaid gave him a little pat on the butt, smiling fondly as his boyfriend walked off to scene with the woman.
Whoops. Avery could almost feel the confusion emanating from Nick. She’d heard about Kincaid and Zach’s unique relationship but had forgotten to give him a heads up. He was probably confused as hell.
Turning back to the table as Zach hurried over to a petite, curvy blonde, Kincaid met Nick’s eyes and laughed.
“I guess Avery forgot to tell you about Zach and me?” he asked.
“Oh, uh, well, she told me you two were together…” Nick’s eyes darted around the table as though he was looking for someone to clue him in before he put his foot in his mouth.
“They are,” Avery said in unison with everyone else. Domi snickered, leaning into Mitch’s side.
“They’re complicated,” Domi teased.
“We are.” Kincaid smiled calmly, catching Nick’s gaze again.
“We’re in an exclusive relationship, but Zach is a switch.
He’s also a sadist. Doing scenes exclusively with me doesn’t fulfill all his needs, so he sometimes platonically scenes with other submissives.
Amy is engaged, but her fiancé is vanilla, so they scene together fairly regularly since both of them are otherwise romantically involved. ”
“That’s… a lot of trust.” Thankfully, Nick sounded more admiring than judgmental.
“Yes.” Kincaid nodded.
“Oh, hey, isn’t that Q?” Iris asked, going onto her tiptoes and distracting the flow of conversation. “I didn’t know he knew Adam and Angel.”
Avery had quickly discovered Iris knew what seemed like half the club.
“Let me guess,” she said dryly, “more of Andrew’s friends.” Iris’ big brother had a lot of friends at the club, though he wasn’t here tonight. Apparently, he had ceded Thursday nights to Iris, Friday nights at Stronghold were his, and they bargained for Saturdays.
“Of course. Well, Adam is. Angel’s his wife now, and she’s friends with him, too, but mostly with Kate.” Iris went up on her tiptoes and waved to the pretty brunette, who waved back before turning her attention back to Q. “I wonder how she knows Q.”
“Connor just walked in,” Nick said with amusement. “Seems like the entire class is showing up tonight.”
Sure enough, Connor had walked in, but he wasn’t alone. Master Law and another man were with him.
“Who’s that with him and Master Law?” she asked. “He’s not part of our class.”
About Master Law’s height—which put both of them at Connor’s shoulders—he had the same dark complexion as Master Law but didn’t look Filipino.
Middle Eastern, maybe? Unlike Master Law and Connor, he had longer, slicked-back hair, which gave him another inch of height.
The black glasses he wore with his leather pants and black button-down made him look like a bad boy professor.
“That’s Master Asad,” Mitch said. “The new Pied Piper of Pussy.”
Domi choked on her drink.
“Excuse me?” Thumping her chest with her fist, she turned an incredulous gaze on her boyfriend.
“You know, the club player. First, it was Andrew, then it was me, and now Asad. Every club has to have one.”
“Ew, don’t talk about my brother that way.” Iris covered her ears, making a face. “I don’t want to hear about his man-whoring.”
“Yeah, and I’m not sure I want to hear about yours.” Domi elbowed Mitch in the side, but her admonishments did nothing to wipe the grin from his face.
“What? That was the whole reason you dated me,” he teased. “Good sex, no commitment. Being bondage buddies was the start of our romance. You would have never been my friend-with-cuffs if I’d been a relationship kind of guy.”
“He’s got you there,” Rae said, smirking. “Besides, you cured him of his pussy-hopping ways with your magic vagina.”
“I hate all of you,” Domi whined.
“Hey, I didn’t say anything,” Avery protested.
“Me, either,” Kincaid chimed in.
“Okay, fine, I hate everyone except Avery and Kincaid. Does that work?”
“Mmm, hate sex.” Mitch tipped his head to the side, staring off into the air, visualizing it. “Sounds good to me.”
“I hate you the most.”
“I can live with that.”
As everyone laughed, Nick pulled Avery tighter into his side, chuckling.
“Your friends are insane,” he whispered, his hot breath tickling her ear. Considering the conversation, she couldn’t really argue.